Winds damage empty aircraft at Pellston Regional Airport

April 20, 2004|BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER

PELLSTON - Winds gusting to 65 mph at Pellston Regional Airport early Monday spun an empty Mesaba turbojet halfway around on the tarmac and into the terminal's two boarding bridges, causing what appeared to be minor damage.

Hours before, heavy winds flipped over an unattended private plane parked near a hanger, causing extensive damage. And the winds ripped a fabric poster off a billboard along U.S. 31 on the airport's eastern edge.

No injuries were reported in the incidents.

Mesaba station manager Allison August said the 34-passenger crimson-and-silver turboprop was parked on the tarmac about 5:35 a.m., secured to the ground by sandbags and chock blocks, after a late night arrival. It was scheduled to depart for Detroit at 6:35 a.m.

August said one morning flight was canceled and later flights had to deplane away from the boarding bridges, which sustained what appeared to be minor damage to their sheet metal exteriors.

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She said damage to the turboprop appeared to be limited to nicks on the wing and tail. She said mechanics flew in from Detroit to make minor repairs to the aircraft, which was then flown to a maintenance base for further work.

August said that to her knowledge it was the first incident of its kind at the airport.

Airport manager Kelley Atkins said an airport employee was about to refuel the aircraft from a tanker truck when the winds, gusting to 65 miles an hour, quickly spun the aircraft 180 degrees.

He said the aircraft's wing and tail nicked both boarding bridges that lead from the terminal building to the aircraft.

In the second wind-related incident, mechanic Steve Deforest of Bear River Aviation said the Cessna 150 aircraft that was flipped by the gusts had been tied down next to the Bear River hanger awaiting a test flight after it had been painted.

"The stakes that were holding it were basically long straight stakes. With the rain and the gusts that we've had, they just loosened up and pulled out and the airplane flipped over," he said.

Deforest said he was called about the plane about 8:30 p.m. Sunday and drove to the airport to investigate.

"It felt like being sandblasted out there. We secured the plane as best we could to keep it from moving around any more," he said.

"Nobody knows exactly when it flipped over. At the time they filled out the report the winds were 35 knots (40.2 mph) and they had observed higher, so I don't know the actual wind speed when it flipped."

Deforest said the single-engine Cessna had a fair market value of between $12,000 to $20,000, depending on equipment and condition. He said a determination of whether it had been totaled would be up to the insurance company.

He said the plane was owned by a local resident but would not give his name.

County controller Lyn Johnson, interviewed at the airport, said the county had no responsibility for either aircraft "at this point."

"They are private businesses operating on airport property," he said. "Our leases make them responsible and hold us harmless."

He said it was Mesaba's aircraft that damaged the county's facility and the incident will be reported to the insurance companies involved.

Johnson said private aircraft had been flipped over by winds before, but it was the first time he was aware of that winds had spun a commercial aircraft around on the tarmac.